Differences between Teachers of the Year and inservice teachers and the effect of teachers' gender, years of teaching, grade level taught, and highest degree earned were evaluated using the Teacher Belief Questionnaire. Results indicated that Teachers of the Year were significantly more humanistic in their student control beliefs than were matched…

Discusses the lack of teacher training provided for teaching assistants in history departments. Argues that emphasis on research and publication is misplaced because most new Ph.D.s will be teaching rather than publishing. Urges teacher training to prepare graduate students for their chosen profession and to improve undergraduate education. (DK)

A teacher describes a Foxfire project in which learning-disabled seven year olds made and sold Christmas cards to help the homeless. Outcomes included improved writing skills, understanding of money and math applications for the elementary students, and positive teaching experiences for high school computer students who assisted. (SV)

Stories about teaching practice, as used in professional teacher education, are a valuable source of information about teaching and a worthwhile reflective exercise. As experienced teachers and preservice students shared and collaborated on writing stories in courses at a university in Australia, students gained a better understanding of…

A study examined how a student teaching program that emphasized the need for gradual transition into teaching, guidance, and support to student teachers affected individuals' experiences and performance. Daily logs, weekly logs, grade point averages, and student evaluations indicated significant diversity in student teaching experiences for…

Discusses research on teacher thinking, noting the types of information available from a simple procedure for collecting pupil responses to lessons taught by student teachers. Pupil response patterns shift as student and cooperating teachers alternate instructional processes. Pupil responses to lessons allow prospective teachers to learn to think…

University of Alberta faculty and Edmonton teachers cooperated to place 68 third-year education majors into classroom experiences. Analysis of student journals and interviews with participants examined the collaborative nature of the experience, participant relationships, student socialization into the teacher role, and student reflection on…

Responds to Floden and Klinzing's article, "What Can Research on Teacher Thinking Contribute to Teacher Preparation? A Second Opinion." Agrees with it, but discusses questions raised but not answered. Questions what expertise in teaching is, how this expertise is communicated, and who these experts are. (JS)

To study the knowledge that teachers use to understand and interpret teaching and learning, 28 respondents from 4 levels of teaching experience were asked to explain their understanding of videotaped classroom scenes. The increasing complexity of understanding with teacher experience is supported by the findings. (SLD)

Examines four categories from a longitudinal study of change in teachers' practice: conceptions of practice, tensions in practice, articulation, and local and professional language. Researchers investigated how foreign language teachers integrated inservice information into classroom thinking and activity, noting how teachers used professional…

Presents partial results from an ongoing Japanese study of teachers' practical thinking styles designed to clarify their practical epistemology. Five major findings of practical thinking styles are discussed, and the implications for teacher education in Japan are considered. (GLR)

Two Native-American graduate students' fieldwork involved teaching cultural heritage to Native-American inmates at Auburn Correctional Facility, New York. Through shared oral stories, readings, viewing Native produced films, and singing, the line between teachers and students became blurred and they became one group, learning oneness with…

Schlessman notes that Johnson's article on role of theory in second language (L2) teachers' education opens a Pandora's box in attempting to determine what it means to have two forms of knowledge, conceptual and perceptual. Johnson argues that theory can transform practice only if teachers have varied opportunities to make sense of theory within…

The proportion of time that teacher candidates in field-experience programs spent on eight types of classroom tasks was examined for two field-experience programs that differed in constancy of placement. In both programs, teacher candidates spent most of their time on clerical tasks and little time on whole-class teaching (their most valued task).…

In discussing the incorporation of constructivist instructional philosophies in education, this article examines the complicated shape-shifting that occurs across many constructivist ideas, demystifying constructivism by locating its identity or substance, synthesizing tenets that might bring identity to constructivism, and analyzing and…